We Need A Better Plan Than This...

My Internet Service has been spotty at best. I'm one of the lucky ones. The south and north shores of Long Island, north shore of Queens and south shore of Brooklyn have been hammered really bad. Just Google Breezy Point, Queens or Long Beach, Long Island. They have become symbolic examples of how much of the shoreline has been destroyed. Last year, with hurricane Irene, there was a famous video of the Lifeguard booth being tossed around by waves which had overran the entire beach and pounded the booth into the Boardwalk. But the booth survived and was eventually put back when the hurricane passed. This time around that booth...is gone.

Some people are still cut off from receiving help. Then on the other side I see friends and family posting on Facebook that they have electricity and their neighborhood is slowly coming back to normal. Having grown up in New York City and now living on Long Island and having a wide swath of friends and family in both areas - I cannot and do not feel the cause to celebrate that my house only suffered and still suffers only a loss of power. As far as I'm concerned this entire area is one big neighborhood. Everyone knows someone somewhere.

Power us being restored in certain areas. Some quicker than others. That's normal. But out here on Long Island there is a definite issue with had shortage. Tankers are slow to come in via ports or the hammered tunnels and bridges. Many gas stations on Long Island don't even have electricity to pump the gas. All of this is adding up to a gas shortage. No gas for cars. No gas for generators. 24 hours after the "love and unifying neighborly feelings" is being replaced by "I'm getting my gas - screw you!"  Close neighbors and extended friends are all checking in and helping, but out side of that...it's getting very spicy.

This was the plan in case of disaster? This was the prescription for help the ones who do survive the immediate disaster survive? Generators are being stolen from homes. Stores and evacuated homes are being looted. Most traffic lights still out. Tons of cars on the streets. The sounds of police and ambulance sirens passing through your town all day and night.

And now your waiting up to two or more hours for gas? This is a prescription for secondary disasters taking effect. Long Island has been pushed back into the late 19th century and parts of NYC has been pushed back into the 16th century. We are on a precipice. We are being taught a lesson. There is a divide. The haves and the have nots. Or the haves and the completely cut offs. How can the Mayor of NYC even contemplate hosting the NYC marathon this Sunday? Who in NYC is going to watch or volunteer to help?

I hope those who can read this and live outside the 18 states can help voice your opinions to the Mayor of NYC. I hope you can make a small donation down the road to help those here who are in desperate need. My mother and sister live in Lower Manhattan and are completely cut off from power and supplies. And according to the news reports, they may continue to be cut off for up to an additional week. They live 13 stories up and my mother is an amputee. I have not heard from them since Tuesday.

If this was the plan we came up with after Katrina...then we need a better plan.

A Glimmer of Humor In Spite Of Sandy...Just 2 Blocks Away...

The Day After Sandy...

She was a mean one, this Sandy.  She pounded New York City to its knees and Long Island to her elbows and knees. There have been a few big hurricanes and tropical storms in the past, but this area of New York always seems to get skipped over from getting hit by major natural disasters.

Well, not this time.

No, no. This time Lower New York got its behind kicked.  They have called in electrical  repair crews from as far away as Texas, California, and Canada to help. Shamefully looters had already began running the streets in parts of the Far Rockaways.

Sandy Has Arrived...

So...Hurricane Sandy has arrived in New York.  She is not nice.  She hasn't played very fair.  In fact, she has been down right nasty.  There is nothing worse than being on the outer bands of a hurricane, which usually carry a lot of rain and or ocean surge.  Then on top of that to have the largest coastal area of any two counties in the entire United States.  And then as if the formula couldn't get any worse...you add in high tide starting just as Sandy made landfall in New Jersey...just south of your shores...to really stir the sea levels up as she headed northbound.

In Manhattan, my hometown, the Hudson river has risen over the wall and onto the streets.  That's the west side of Lower Manhattan.  Over on the east side of Manhattan, the East River has also flowed over the eastern wall of Manhattan.  Wall Street is said to be under three feet of water.

Back on the home front, some 800,000 Long Islanders are without power.  I am using my mini laptop and a backup battery for my cell phone to even post this blog.  There is no power in my house, that is until I start my generator first thing in the morning.  My family is in good shape.  We have food and shelter otherwise.  But not all my friends and family will be able to say the same after today.  I already know of people who have lost cars due to falling trees, as well as beach front homes lost to the rising sea, or electrical fire - or both.  Families cut off from one another after running out to get last minute supplies, only to return to their home and find the street to their house completely sealed off by water - and other family members trapped at home.

These are those moments that push and test us from the normal comfort of our daily lives.  These are the moments that are suppose to make us re-think what is and isn't really important.  Lives over valuables and property.  Family over foolishness and trivial relationships.

Even with all these trying moments, something very nice has arisen.  Something very powerful has awakened.  Not only have my usual friends from Facebook reached out to see how I am doing, but also friends I've made through here and other social networks have also reached out to inquire if me and the family are okay. That has been a very moving and touching thing.  To actually feel humanity...the love and concern that someone has for you, especially when you can not even repay them...to feel that through a simple text message...its truly moving.

My prayers go out to those I know and don't know who are clearly going to be devastated by Hurricane Sandy, like no other storm before.  And my countless thank yous to those of you who have sent a kind word, and expressed concern for my well being.  I love you, I thank you and pray that God continues to also bless you and yours.

"There's A Storm Coming..."

I remember watching the move "The Dark Knight Rises" and in one of its more memorable moments...Selena Kyle, aka The Cat Woman tells Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, that "There's a storm coming Mr. Wayne.  You and your friends better batten down the hatches..."

And that's exactly the way we New Yorkers and others in the northeastern part of the United States feel.  Within the last 14 months, we've been hammered by a dozen small, but torrential rainstorms and now the second of two major hurricanes.  There will probably been heavier water damage and loss of power this time around.  This new storm has been named, Sandy.

One of my very good friends lives down in Palm Bay, Florida...and she told me that the Sandy had passed her coastline.  She had a storm party down there.  As this "Frankenstorm" travels north up the eastern coastline...it's projected to intensity.  The images and damage from last August's 2011 storm, Irene were astounding.  This storm, Sandy may be even worse.  Thanks for the heads up to my friend in FL.

All that being said, unless conditions in my area in New York become extreme, I will continue to write and publish.  Perhaps describing people's response to the events and conditions here will provide some form of interest or entertainment.  My house is equipped with a generator and food stocks are in.

Yeah, this could get interesting.

But, Sandy isn't the only storm coming this week.  At this time I'd like to thank friends for reaching out to me through other media and inquiring about my other blog.  So far it has been getting many views internationally as well as domestically.  However, the time has come for me to to unveil it for those who do not have Twitter.  It is time to get dirty.  It is time to get blue.

For the first time ever, introducing www.ESpeakeasy.blogspot.com.

I'm happy to say that quite a few of you have been reaching it through my Twitter connection.  I didn't want to open it without first getting some writing legs under it.  For those who do read it, I hope that you will remember that ESpeakeasy is a blend of some real life and fictional events, and characters.  It definitely has a different tone than this blog.  It was created to tell some darker and more symbolic stories and events that I couldn't necessarily tell on here.  If you don't like, then don't go.  It's not the Disney Channel.

What does the "E" in Speakeasy stand for?  I welcome email answers.  The first ten people to get it right will receive some sort of prise.  I'm undetermined on whether those gifts should be a t-shirt or a pen, since I have to purchase these items in large lots to reduce the price.

Please feel free to email me any feedback on either blog at NYEastsideEntertainment@gmail.com 

I don't think all the comment controls are functioning properly here, so a direct email is probably best.  For now, please do enjoy your weekend, stay safe and keep visiting my blogs.  My writing storm is a coming too...

Underground bars and clubs....


I'll never forget growing up on the Lower East Side of how many underground bars and clubs that there used to be.  As far as I can remember, there were rarely any problems at them.  They were usually held in buildings that were allegedly land lorded by the mob.  Who knows?  I certainly didn't.  All I do know is that the hidden bars I used to see and know about as a kid are all gone now.  But when I was a kid, I used to always wonder if this was what it was like when Prohibition took hold of our country way back in the 1920's and early '30's.  I always wondered if the Speakeasies (that is the illegal saloons) where the same store fronts and building hallways that I would see 40 plus years later growing up on the Lower East Side?

My mother sometimes cooked food for one such illegal establishment.  She was also a bar tender at one of the nearby legal bars too.  That bar was called "Luckys".  However, the illegal place that she cooked for was appropriately called "The Hole" of all things.

Lots of folks from the neighborhood patroned these illegal bars.  They were happening places in their time.  Sometimes even some swanky uptown people of some higher rung on the society ladder would show their faces to one of these illegal, downtown digs.   In the 1970's the bar scene in New York City had hit it's height of popularity.  It was the one place where all sorts of taboos and rules could be broken - and nobody would care or talk about it.  They had become modern day Speakeasies. 

I walked in and out of many of these places when I was a kid during the day.  You see one of my uncles also worked for the owner of one of these illegal establishments.  I would hang with either he or my mother and got an education that my school classroom never could match.  He was what they called a "runner" for the  illegal "numbers" game.  In other words he was the guy responsible for walking around the neighborhood collecting money and taking bets for people who wanted to bet on the horses.

That was the life I lived, saw and grow up around for many years.  It's the real life stories and drama that I knew couldn't all be placed on this blog.  That I would have to create a second blog to deal with just those stories.

Stay tuned for my links to my "blue" blog.  I will be posting the link here and on my www.twitter.com/NYEntertain the very near future.  Bookmark this blog or add to your Twitter account.

Juicy Mouths!

I believe that there are three types of "Juicy Mouths" in the world.  What do I mean by Juicy Mouths?  Well...why waste time...here it is...

Have you ever sat in the presence of someone who can eat a plate of food, or chew on something in such a manner that they end up making you hungry too?  My mother used to call this type of person a "juicy mouth."

Drives me crazy to sit near someone like that.  When you sit next to them and order lunch, you could be done with your own food, turn and catch them still eating and realize that you didn't enjoy your meal as much as they did.  And why do you end being near these people at the worst times in your life...like a moment when you haven't had a bite to eat yourself...and here comes juicy mouth chomping on a cheeseburger. Makes me just want to walk up to them and slap that burger right out of their hand.

"Don't you realize I'm hungry?  Why did you come over here chewing up on that burger like Jaws right in front of my face?  Now neither of us are going to eat.  We both have to wait 5 more hours for a meal break."

Now I know we've all had this second Juicy Mouth person in our lives too.  Ever have someone chew on a piece of gum like it's a mission?  When I was a kid growing up in New York City, I came across some girls who could chew gum as if it was a circus act.  They could pop it, snap, blow it, suck it back, stretch it out (take it easy fellas, I'm just talking about gum).  And then when that girl walked into a classroom she would be popping and snapping away until she got nailed by the teacher.  Which was usually pretty easy to do.  Just follow the sounds.

Lastly, there was yet a third type of Juicy Mouth.  That is the people who for whatever reason, over salivate while they are talking.  Oh boy.  Stay away from such people when they start saying words with "S" and "Th" sounds! 

"Today's forecast is rain in the office when Mr. Jones starts talking about 'Ships by the Seashore by the Sea, Sink, Slowly, Silly Sally.'"

So there you have it.  Three different types of Juicy Mouths.  If anyone knows of another type of Juicy Mouths that I may have left off this list, please email me. 

NYEastsideEntertainment@gmail.com